


Newest member of the pack

by themerrymutants



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon? We don't need no stinkin canon, Gen, also warning for whatever we call male karens these days, asshole parent warning, canon? never heard of her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22883929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themerrymutants/pseuds/themerrymutants
Summary: A flit adoption drabble I wrote for a now defunct DRoP rp forum that I was rather fond of. Iggyk is a hears all whers and a rather powerful one at that. The forum and I loudly and proudly ignore whers in canon being little more than guard dogs with slightly higher intelligence.Note on Iggyk: they are genderfluid and their broken speech comes from having lived as a wher for over a decade. Their mind had been shattered to quite a few pieces by a rather nasty piece of work of a dragon and this ended up being the result.
Kudos: 9





	Newest member of the pack

**Anything in <> is telepathicly spoken. ** **Iggyk switches from male to female pronouns after the time skip**

Iggyk quietly watched the hustle and bustle of the cothold below the thick, gnarled, branch he'd decided to perch on. He wondered what life was like for the humans below once the night market closed and they went to their tents to rest. Did they have large families who gave them a warm welcome when they returned with the results of the previous night's sales? He had to imagine most had at least something to greet them when they returned. But what if they didn't? The thought saddened him. He couldn't imagine life without his family to greet him, care for him, and console him. He knew that, unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky as to have what he did found family or otherwise. With luck though those who didn't have anyone would be able to build for themselves a family, brick by brick. 

His green that masqueraded as a blue flit Hopk popped in from _between_ to rest on his shoulder nuzzling his cheek affectionately as he reached over with his other hand to scritch between her headknobs.

_ <Not need worry Hopk. Iggyk sad for others but hopeful they find pack of their own,> _ he assured. 

As his attention returned to the stalls below he could feel a growing squall of irritation coming from one of the wher merchants. That wasn't good. He scanned what stalls he had view of to try and figure out where the commotion was coming from but there was just so much movement. He hadn't exactly wanted to go down but it'd be better than just human watching all night. With a sigh he climbed down from the branch he'd been using as a perch and began making his way into the market. It didn't take long for him to find the source of the commotion he'd felt. Apparently an argument had broken out over someone trying to return a blue flit that had been sold to them a few sevendays ago by the wher's human business partner. Seemed the human yelling at the poor wher was demanding to speak to the human who had sold them the flit's egg and refused to believe that the wher was just as capable as his partner. The yelling human was clearly less than enthusiastic about the idea of dealing with a wher and even less enthusiastic about the wher assuring them was no refund policy no matter which partner had sold him the egg.

Iggyk was used to helping settle human/wher disputes among his packmates and figured he might as well try to lend a hand as an apology for eavesdropping; especially since it seemed that this particular human wasn't used to dealing with independent whers. He couldn't understand why it was a thing but it seemed that there were Weyrfolk who still believed whers were inferior somehow and, regrettably, this person appeared to be one of them.

**< Name Iggyk. Heard there is problem, am used to helping humans and whers in pack reach agreement. Any chance Iggyk could help here?> ** He asked the green who seemed momentarily surprised at his being able to mindspeak.  **< Could pretend to be nephew of your partner. This one seem to value human opinion over wher.>**

**< Am Jubilant. Would be grateful for help. We've been arguing for candlemark now and I not have enough patience for this. ****If Iggyk sure he be able get human to leave I'm happy to play along and reward in thanks, > **the wher replied showing an image of an oddly shaped but rather large egg he'd been holding back specifically from people like this one.

Iggyk stepped between the human and the stall forcing the man to take a step back. He hoped that to the man, weyrfolk judging by the knots (though which weyr exactly he wasn't sure other than the knots weren't like Seyrah's or Eryk's and therefore not Reaches knots), would be more willing to speak with him. It would be even better if the man would be compliant but he wasn't going to be that overly optimistic. Humans like him were always a handful.

**"Jubilant! Uncle send his apology for not coming. He's sick, but,"** he motioned to himself as if to say 'I'm here now' to try and keep up the rouse that he could in fact speak like a normal human.  **"Is something wrong?"**

He glanced over at the hatchling that the man was so upset over in the hopes that he could figure out what exactly he was so angry over, however, near as he could tell the blue looked healthy with no obvious signs of injury or illness. An extra set of eyes and baby feathers but, surely, that couldn't be his issue...right? No one would be that silly right? Right? Wrong.

**"I bought what I was assured to be a perfectly healthy egg from your uncle a couple seven days back for my son Coltain as reward for following in my footsteps to become a bronze candidate. This** **_thing_ ** **hatched today instead and I deserve my marks back, my choice in replacement egg, and your uncle's talking guard dog fired as recompense!"** the man demanded apparently oblivious to the tension of the crowd around him even going so far as to look among the crowd that had gathered for those who'd agree with him though none seemed to.  Iggyk quickly donned a mask of neutrality though his mindvoice was anything but. Though he wanted to rain down the fury of a pack leader's son down upon this man's head he needed to treat this with diplomacy. The anger that he couldn't show outwardly instead raged in his mind. As he tried to gain enough composure to speak without venom the mirror shards of his mindvoice rose from the floor and began circling around the green's mind like a halo of protection. Calmly Hopk moved to sit on only one shoulder reaching out to the blue to invite him to perch on the other for a while. The blue didn't even hesitate nearly dive bombing into Iggyk's shoulder.

**"Leave,"** he said only just barely containing the venom in his voice. **"Jubilant will tell uncle you name and share you face so he knows to turn you away. Will also share with other vendors so they know too. Jubilant owns this stall just as much as uncle. He work very hard to make sure business is good and customers happy. Just because you have fancy dragon you think you own entire world. Iggyk hope Coltain grow up and realize that you thinking is wrong and he becomes better."**

**< You heard Nephew Iggyk. We not going to sell to you. Ever.>**

The man looked between Iggyk and the green in shock. Clearly he wasn't used to the word "no". He pulled his features into a snarl taking only one step forwards before he was calmly pulled back by a member of the crowd.

**"My partner and nephew told you to leave,"** the crowd member said, **"we do not give refunds and we don't sell to people who are so willing to abandon hatchlings for being different."**

The rider's demeanor changed in an instant and before anyone else could say anything in agreement the rider left mumbling something about ruining the merchants. With the whole thing over the crowd that had gathered dispersed to return to what they'd been doing before.

**"I'm Loream, I help run this stall with Jubilant, ended up running a bit late thanks to one of our more sickly hatchlings. Thank you for stepping in Iggyk,"** he said as the blue that had so offended the rider lept from Iggyk's shoulder to land on his.  **"I take it you live with one of the nearby packs given your accent?"**

He nodded,  **"Am son of Strak she lead Strak's pack."**

**"Let her know she raised you well for me would you? Also if you two are ever up for it: I'd love to treat you two to a proper Keroonese dinner as thanks."**

Iggyk was suspicious of the offer until Jubilant assured him that it was genuine.  **"Would be happy to come. When you want to meet?"**

**"Three days from now sound good?"** He asked, Iggyk nodding in reply. Jubilant gave her directions to their tent before he and Loream returned to selling.

* * *

Three days later Iggyk returned with Strak and, as promised, Loream had set up a feast for them that was fit for a gold. They chatted and ate genuinely enjoying themselves. It seemed that Iggyk had made not only a non-pack friend but she'd helped the pack gain new allies which was always a boon. She was, admittedly, a bit surprised that they weren't at their stall given the hour and was a bit concerned at the wages they may lose because of it.

**< Don't worry, it not any trouble. Is good to set aside time specifically for friends,>** he assured. 

**< Not mean to think that out loud, sorry,>** she said sheepishly.

**< Is ok I know you not want us to miss a day's wages,>** he said with a wave of his paw. Apparently that jogged his memory as he then got up and made his way to a curtain at the other side of the rather spacious tent. He returned with an absolutely gorgeous hatchling bronze on his shoulder. The flit had the appearance of a fox with keratin plating along his thighs and tufts of feathers poking out here and there. His eyes held the look of one who would never be up to any good a single day in his life. She fell in love in an instant. It seemed he too was more than happy to join her small pack as, upon seeing Iggyk, he hopped onto her plate and stole the biggest chunk of meat he could fit into his mouth.  **< Speaking of wages that bronze hatched from the egg I promised. Careful though that one is a pawful.>**

  
**< Thank. He absolutely beautiful. Promise Iggyk will take very good care of,>** she assured smiling as the bronze moved from his recently finished meal to crawl sluggishly up onto her shoulders draping himself there like a fine shawl before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
